Pemberley (Lyme Park, Cheshire)

Pemberley (Lyme Park, Cheshire)
Oh, to be in England...

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Helena Bonham Carter-Actor of the Week

Helena Bonham Carter

Helena Bonham Carter is our actor of the week.  After seeing her in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (Mrs. Weasley vs Bellatrix Lestrange!) and posting on Lady Jane, I have had her on the brain.  I think we all know her for her interesting choice in fashion as well as in acting roles and whether you love her or not, she is a true original.

Helena Bonham Carter as The Queen Mum in The King's Speech
Myrtle Logue: Will their Majesties be staying for dinner?
[Logue and Bertie look panic-stricken. Elizabeth comes to the rescue]
Queen Elizabeth: We would love to, such a treat, but alas... a previous engagement. What a pity.

I personally thought this was brilliant casting to have HBC as The Queen Mum. She wasn't always an elderly lady and this was a great reminder of that.

Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland
The Red Queen: I need a pig here!
[Live pig is slid under her feet]
The Red Queen: I love a warm pig belly for my aching feet.

Helena Bonham Carter has appeared in many of her common law husband Tim Burton's films. Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and even Planet of the Apes!  They credit the health of their relationship to living in two different houses, side by side and connected by an open hallway so the family members can come and go as they please.

Here is a quote from "Celebrity news and style Now" from 2006:

Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton live in separate houses - because they cannot agree on decor.
The couple - who have a three-year-old son Billy - have neighbouring homes in north London, linked by a single corridor.

Helena, 40, insists the couple's unusual arrangement is necessary so they don't bicker over interior design.

She says: 'His side is messier. My side is cutesy, like Beatrix Potter, which is fine for him to visit but there's no way he could live in it. He thinks his side is James Bond.'

Billy's bedroom is in 48-year-old Tim's house but Helena reckons he prefers to spend most of his time in her home because of her roaring fire.

'I have the kitchen and a fire so we'll watch telly in my place,' she explains. 'There is no normality in life. Having two houses means that we can get out of each other's hair - which, let's face it, we've both got a lot of.'


Helena Bonham Carter showing her fashion sense and her sense of humour at the Oscars 2011

I love HBC's acting (I really have to watch A Room With a View again!) but her personal appeal and quirkiness often outshines even her truly stellar acting.

Helena Bonham Carter with Tim Burton and family
So here is to an interesting British actress (and great-granddaughter of British Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith) who isn't afraid to tell an interviewer that she peed herself during filming Harry Potter because of all the screaming she had to do as Bellatrix Lestrange.  "Anybody who had a baby, you’d know that if you scream… nothing’s — you know. Everything. [Pause] It’s Niagara. I did 25 takes and I just thought, ‘You have no idea what’s happening down there.'"

Helena Bonham Carter and Emma Watson-love those shoes!
“What happens when you have a baby, for me anyway, is I didn’t give a funderwhack any more.”

I don't think Helena Bonham Carter gave a funderwhack even before she had her babies, do you? Great role model for the young ladies I think. A strong woman who doesn't have a personal stylist dress her for the Oscars. You go girl!!!!

Lady JaneThe Wings of the DoveConversation(s) With Other WomenWhere Angels Fear to TreadTwelfth NightA Room With a View (Two-Disc Special Edition)Harry Potter Years 1-7 Part 1 Gift SetMerry WarSweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet StreetHoward's EndThe King's SpeechAlice in WonderlandFight Club

22 comments:

  1. "Interesting choice in fashion" is right! Browsing through a magazine today that had a couple pages devoted to recent fashion worn by celebs and even though I've seen plenty of HBC styles before, it made me stop and cringe! Sometimes it's quirky and original but most of the time I think she just rolled out of bed!

    By the way, I forget, did you watch Wings of the Dove?

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  2. @Cheryl-Love her or hate her, she is never boring! I just like to be entertained by her "interestng choices".
    And no, Wings of The Dove is another hole in my seen it list. Did you like it?

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  3. Helena had a relatively small role in The King's Speech, but I thought she was superb. I have been watching her since Lady Jane Grey. I also love her quirkiness. She's a delightful interview.

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  4. Jenny, I'm surprised that you've not seen Wings of the Dove. I really think you would enjoy it! Strong performances by Helena, Alison (and Linus who will soon be starring in Titanic series)!

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  5. @Mary-Delightful and quirky is a perfect way to describe her. My son's girlfriend says she is her "girl crush". That's a new term for me!

    @Cheryl-I will have to try to get my hands on a copy of Wings of the Dove. A definite gap in my period drama library! Thanks!

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  6. Wait? She and Burton don't live together because they can't agree on decor? Wow... I need to start getting paid millions to play pretend in front of a camera... Then I could buy a couple mansions over decor issues.

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    1. if affordability wasn't an issue more people would choose to live like that for what ever reasons.
      AND we don't all play pretend as well as some unfortunately.

      I've always admired her intense depiction of her characters and her individual sense of fashion (she dresses to please herself and does so beautifully)

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    2. Well said mommbsta :)

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  7. @Anonymous- LOL! Sounds like they just each need their space. Must be nice! I would have loved to have told my children to go to their Dad's house next door if they were misbehaving. Apparently there is a Nanny's house too so there are actually 3 adjoining houses!

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  8. And as Ophelia in Mel Gibson's HAMLET? She was perfect!

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    1. Duly noted! Must see that one again sometime soon.

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  9. Might be worth noting that one of her earliest roles was in a Lord Grade adaptation of a Barbara Cartland novel - 'A Hazard of Hearts'. Good bit of harmless period romance there.

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  10. Don't forget her play in Kenneth Branaghs "Frankenstein" :)

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